The subject matter herein relates generally to cable assemblies that include cable harnesses for interconnecting communication systems or devices.
Communication systems, such as routers, servers, switches, redundant arrays of inexpensive disks (RAIDs), uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), host bus adapters (HBAs), supercomputers, and the like, may be large complex systems that have a number of components interconnected to one another through different types of cable assemblies. For example, cable backplane (or cable midplane) systems include several daughter card assemblies that are interconnected to one another through cable assemblies. The daughter card assemblies of such systems may also be interconnected with remote components or devices through different types of cable assemblies. An example of such cable assemblies includes pluggable input/output (I/O) cable assemblies.
Cable assemblies may include a cable harness (or multicore cable), one or more electrical connectors, and an assembly housing that holds the electrical connector(s) and is coupled to the cable harness. The electrical connector may be positioned within an interior cavity of the assembly housing and have a front end that is presented to an exterior of the assembly housing. The cable harness has multiple individual cables that are received through a loading passage of the assembly housing. When the cable assembly is fully constructed, an interior cavity exists within the assembly housing. The individual cables extend through the interior cavity and couple to corresponding contacts of the electrical connector that may be located, for example, at a back end of the electrical connector.
It is generally desirable to mitigate electromagnetic interference (EMI) leakage in which the EMI generated from within the interior cavity escapes to an exterior of the assembly housing. This can be challenging because the assembly housing typically has several parts, such as housing shells and the cable harness, that are connected to one another. Tight tolerances and compliant conductive materials are often necessary to minimize seams that allow EMI leakage. Tighter tolerances and additional shielding components, however, may not be cost-effective and/or may not provide the same effectiveness for mitigating EMI leakage.
Accordingly, a need remains for a cable assembly having a cable harness that can be reliably grounded to an assembly housing of the cable assembly.